Impending boom

12 February 2014

Business confidence oozing optimism.

We’ve been hearing that business confidence has been
improving for a while now, glimmers of enthusiasm as New Zealand grinds its way
towards a growth economy, leaving the recession and GFC as a memory we can
reminisce where we were when. Almost daily this year there are news reports
oozing optimism.

What is unique about the start of 2014 is how quickly
intentions have turned into action with employers making clear decisions about
additions to their teams and projects that need resourcing. We are already
seeing evidence of growth within Sales and Marketing recruitment which will
have implications for employers now and in the future.

It is a significant shift in supply and demand moving the
balance back towards candidates. For the last few years employers have been
relatively spoilt for choice of candidates which has allowed cautious decision
making, symptomatic of a tentative economic recovery. With an increase in
demand it will be candidates who have choices and we are already seeing
candidates with multiple job offers, - particularly for mid-level roles.

As candidates become scarcer, the methods we have employed
to attract them will need to change. Job boards are no longer giving us all the
answers and candidates are becoming jaded with the increased frequency of
social media approaches. More and more clients are asking us to support them
with roles where their own ad response has been underwhelming. It’s the
hard-to-fill roles that are keeping us busy using our database and networks as
well as Google Adwords and traditional research to uncover the hard to find
candidates.

One implication of this shift is that it is likely to take
longer than ideal to find the person you want. It is worth considering a contractor
to fill the gap sooner rather than later to take the pressure off. And if you
get a quicker than expected result, with the flexibility of hiring a
contractor, you won’t need to pay twice.

Another area where employers will need to evolve is assessing
what is really important for a role and deciding what can be learned, trained
or transferred. Too often a narrow focus on a particular industry or specific
type of experience means companies miss out on hiring exceptional talent
because they’re just outside the traditional square.

It will require either a more flexible approach to
recruitment or an infinite amount of patience to boost your team to prepare for
the impending boom.